


Home is Where the Heart is

by Revasnaslan



Series: BoM Raised Lotor AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BoM Raised Lotor, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), Fluff, Found Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-26 19:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13864857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revasnaslan/pseuds/Revasnaslan
Summary: Lotor didn't know where his caretakers had gone, nor did he know why they hadn't tried to find him. All he knew was that he was alone on this ship, hiding in the shadows of crates as the emergency lights blink on and off. And then, he gets found by someone who isverysurprised to find a cub hiding away in a storage closet.Written for the Lotor Spring Exchange.





	Home is Where the Heart is

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Lotor Spring Exchange over on tumblr for nyucean! And this might've accidently spawned a new au...
> 
> ... because clearly i need two different dads of marmora aus (:

When the alarm had first sounded, Lotor had hidden himself immediately, squeezing into the smallest place he could find amongst the boxes and crates. He hadn’t known what was going on, or what had caused the alarms to go off. By the time the alarms had stopped, nobody had found him. Were they even looking for him?

Red light pulsed on and off every other tick or so—on and off, on and off—casting shadows around the storage room. Otherwise, it was as dimly lit as it had been when Lotor had originally come in here to escape his caretakers for a couple of doboshes. Lotor tried to stay calm, even as tears pricked in the corners of his eyes and a choked sob threatened to leave him. He wanted to go _home_ , even if he wasn’t entirely sure _where_ home was.

He didn’t know how long he had been hiding, or how long the alarms had been going off for before they had abruptly quieted. However, he couldn’t hear anyone outside the storage room anymore. Normally, when he was hiding, he could at least hear the sound of metallic boots hitting the floor as sentries made their rounds, or the faint, telltale whisper of fabric that indicated his caretakers had found his hiding spot. No more than a tick after he heard the sound, one of them would always materialize in front of him in a puff of black smoke. But now, the only sounds he heard were the low, creaking groan of the ship’s hull and his own soft breathing.

When the door to the room did open, Lotor let out a high-pitched squeak in surprise, ducking back into his hiding place.

“Hello?”

At the sound of the voice, Lotor froze in place, feeling his heart leap into his throat. The voice was augmented, metallic sounding—almost like the voices of Lotor’s caretakers, only higher pitched. While Lotor didn’t think this new voice belong to one of them, it certainly didn’t belong to a sentry. Soldiers were rare on this ship, though, and Lotor couldn’t remember seeing one recently, so who…?

“Is anyone here?” the voice asked again.

Even though he was curious, Lotor didn’t emerge from his hiding place. Rather, he moved further back, curling in on himself as he tried to make himself as small as possible. Maybe if he was quiet and didn’t say anything, then they would go away without finding him. He’d been told by his caretakers that scavengers and pirates would frequently take over ships and steal from the Empire… but as he listened, he realized this person wasn’t acting like the ones he’d been told about. He had always envisioned them ransacking and destroying anything they didn’t want or need— _wasteful_ , his caretakers had told him. But this person sounded like they were slowly making their way through the room, shifting the tops off of crates and searching them carefully, as if scared of damaging the contents.

Then, Lotor saw three bright lights—initially, he mistook them for eyes, and he leapt back, letting out a high pitched squeak as he tried to put as much distance between himself and this person as possible. However, when the mask flickered, revealing the person’s face, Lotor recognized Galran features. The man crouched in front of his hiding place had dulled, bluish fur, although Lotor spotted red markings peeking out from underneath the shadow of his hood. A braid of white headfur was wrapped around his neck, and while he wasn’t smiling, he didn’t look angry, either…

“Hello there,” the man said, voice soft as he tilted his head to the side. When Lotor didn’t respond, he noticed how the man’s ears flicked beneath his hood, shifting the fabric ever so slightly. “I’m not going to hurt you…” he assured Lotor.

“You’re not?” Lotor asked, sniffing as he reached up to wipe his eyes with the heel of his hand.

The man shook his head. “Why would I?”

“My caretakers told me that pirates hurt cubs,” Lotor explained, letting out a soft hiccup.

The man seemed amused by that, judging by the slight upward quirk of his lips. “Do I look like a pirate to you?”

Lotor considered it for a moment. His caretakers had always told him that pirates dressed in old rags and were covered in grime, but this man had a dark robe with white accents and what looked like actual armor. Besides, he had been told that Galra were never pirates. Finally, Lotor shook his head, ears twitching as he carefully crawled forward. He was well within the reach of the man now, but the man just settled back, sitting easily on the floor opposite Lotor.

“Did these _caretakers_ leave you here by yourself?” the man asked, tilting his head to the side. His half smile faded as his brow furrowed.

Lotor shrugged. “I was hiding when the alarms went off…” he said quietly, averting his gaze to the floor. He wanted to say more, explain that he wasn’t hiding just to misbehave, but he thought better of it. “What’s your name?” he asked instead.

“Kolivan,” the man said. “And what’s yours, little one?”

“Lotor…” he said, before quickly holding out his hand, like he had been taught was proper etiquette. Kolivan returned the gesture, gently gripping Lotor’s forearm in greeting. Lotor then eased himself fully out of his hiding spot, plopping down in front of Kolivan. “Why are you here if you’re not a pirate?” he asked curiously.

“I was looking for something,” Kolivan explained. “Why are you here by yourself? It is unusual to find a cub as young as you on ships like this…”

Lotor didn’t actually know why he was on this specific ship. He had faint memories of his father, dressed in red armor, always raised above everyone else. While Lotor knew that meant his father was someone important, he saw the man very rarely. He was only told that eventually, he might take his father’s place and fulfill his duty to the Empire. Nobody had ever gone into detail—he was just expected to follow whatever orders he was given. Lotor was going to explain this, but he didn’t get the chance.

Alarms sounded again—screeching in Lotor’s ears. At the sound of them, Lotor tumbled into Kolivan’s lap, latching onto him. For a moment, Kolivan stiffened, before sighing and lightly running his hand over the top of Lotor’s head, then moving down to rub comforting circles along his back.

“We need to go, little one,” Kolivan said. Judging by Kolivan’s tone, he didn’t like the alarms blaring either—did he know what they meant? It didn’t matter to Lotor, really, he just wanted to get away from here. When Kolivan stood up, carefully setting Lotor down on the floor and taking his hand, Lotor followed him.

The journey through the ship was one that Lotor rarely made—he was confined to his quarters on this ship more often than not, except when he managed to escape and find hiding places. Kolivan seemed to know exactly where he was going, though. As they moved through the ship, the alarms echoed down the corridors, and the lights continued flicking on and off, on and off. Lotor’s ears twitched in unease, and his grip on Kolivan’s hand tightened.

When they came to Kolivan’s shuttle, Lotor didn’t recognize the make of it. He wasn’t supposed to learn about ships for another couple of years, but his eyes widened in fascination anyway.

“Pick whichever seat you like, I’ll be right over here preparing for our hyperspace jump,” Kolivan said, still speaking just as softly as he had been. “Once we’re in hyperspace, we can see if there are any provisions for you to eat on this ship…”

—

Lotor didn’t know where they were going, but he did know that he liked Kolivan a lot.

Kolivan let him have pretty free reign of the cockpit, so long as he stayed within Kolivan’s sight. When Kolivan wasn’t answering any questions that Lotor had, he would ask his own—mostly making sure Lotor was doing alright, or if he needed anything. Lotor’s caretakers back on the Imperial ship had kept him to a strict regimen, one that he wasn’t allowed to deviate from unless he ran off and hid away from them. And he had always gotten in trouble for that. However, now, he got to sit on the floor of the cockpit and play with toys that Kolivan had made for him out of some spare fabric he had found in one of the emergency kits on board. Or Kolivan let him sit in his lap while he was piloting, allowing Lotor to watch the stars through the glass.

They stopped every night on smaller planets, ones without larger cities. Lotor liked the quiet—the hustle of the Imperial ships had always left him feeling overwhelmed. Tonight he sat in Kolivan’s lap, on the floor amongst the blankets he had collected from the emergency kits on board the shuttle, which he had fashioned into a makeshift nest. Kolivan slowly braided his hair as Lotor blinked blearily and rubbed one of his eyes as he tried to stay awake.

“How much longer?” Lotor asked.

“I’m almost done, kitling…” Kolivan assured him.

“No!” Lotor said, and then immediately caught his tongue. He still expected Kolivan to get mad at him for raising his voice, but Kolivan merely tilted his head, ears flicking curiously. Lotor took a deep breath. “I meant… I meant how much longer till we get there…”

“Hmm…” Kolivan said, looking thoughtful as he continued braiding Lotor’s headfur. “We were very far from the base when I found you. Perhaps another quintant.”

At the mention of the base, Lotor’s ears flicked curiously. “What’s it like there?”

“Again?” Kolivan asked, with a slight smile. “It’s quiet, hidden… I think you’ll like it there. Everyone is very nice to cubs.”

Lotor’s ears perked up. “Are there other cubs?” He had never asked that before, but he assumed so, since Kolivan said everyone liked them.

“There’s one on the base we’ll be going to,” Kolivan said, tying off Lotor’s braid. “He’s about your age… a little bit younger maybe…”

Lotor hadn’t met another cub his age, even though he knew they existed. He had heard soldiers talking about their children before, oftentimes when he was nearby. However, he had never asked about them, since he knew better than to speak out of turn when around the soldiers. His caretakers had told him to be quiet unless he was spoken to. But _Kolivan_ had never told him that.

“Does he like playing games?” Lotor asked. He hadn’t often had the chance to play games before, much less with another cub, but he had heard about them from his eavesdropping on soldiers. They often talked about their own cubs and how they’d play—Lotor thought that chasing things sounded like fun.

Kolivan hummed softly. “I’ll have to ask his fathers if you can meet him,” he said, smoothing a hand over the top of Lotor’s head. “We’ll see.”

Lotor perked up a little bit at that. He had never had playmates before… even though he had no idea what he was supposed to do around other cubs, he was curious about this one.

“Now, how about you go to sleep?” Kolivan suggested. Then, he motioned to a small com sitting next to Lotor’s little blanket fort. “If you need me, press that, and I’ll come back inside.”

It was an instruction that Kolivan had been giving him the past couple of nights. The first night, Lotor had tested the com multiple times, just to make sure Kolivan wasn’t lying—and he had come back every single time, checking on Lotor where he had hidden himself in his little fort in the corner of the cockpit. Before, he was restricted to his room, and had never really thought that his calls for help would be answered. Knowing that Kolivan was nearby if Lotor needed him was comforting, and it allowed Lotor to drift off without too much trouble, snuggling into his blanket.

The next morning found Lotor balanced on Kolivan’s knee, peering over the top of the console. The shuttle gave a jerk as they exited hyperspace, and Lotor felt Kolivan’s hand grip the back of his shirt to keep him from falling over.

“Careful…” Kolivan warned.

Lotor didn’t respond, however. His gaze was glued to the base in front of them—while Kolivan had described it several times when Lotor asked about it over the last couple of days, Lotor hadn’t really been able to visualize it very well. The base was rotating around a giant star, softly glowing blue in the distance, while two black holes sat on either side of it. Instead of making any kind of comment, all Lotor managed was a soft, breathless wow at the sight of it. He had never seen anything like them before in real life, only in pictures in a book he had found once. He leaned more heavily against the console, standing on his tiptoes as he tried to get a better look.

As they neared the star, Kolivan carefully reached around Lotor to begin typing something into the console, but Lotor wasn’t really paying attention. He was too distracted by their surroundings. The black holes swirled, seeming to draw the blue light from the star into them. As they got closer, he could also see that the entire star was surrounded by what looked like a shield of some kind—was it a particle barrier? However, he noticed it shifted, as if it was alive, and when he asked, Kolivan explained it was something called a _solar flare_. It closed behind them, mere ticks after they had made it through.

And then, the shuttle touched down in the docking bay. Any other questions that Lotor had died in his throat when he saw how many people were standing there. At least four or five officers, all dressed in matching uniforms, much like the armor that Kolivan wore underneath of his robe.

“Go and collect your toys,” Kolivan said, setting Lotor gently back on the ground. Then, he turned back to the console—Lotor didn’t ask what he was doing this time. He silently went around, gathering up the couple of toys that he had been playing with before Kolivan told him they were about to leave hyperspace. He also got the blanket, and then kept close to Kolivan’s back as they left the shuttle, holding onto the tail of his robes in a tiny fist.

“Kolivan, thank the stars!” A smaller Galra, one who was wearing a uniform similar to Kolivan’s, said as she came forward. Lotor caught sight of a blade on her hip, where Kolivan kept his. He flinched at the loudness of her voice, but she didn’t sound angry—worried, maybe? “Where have you been?” she continued. “You were supposed to check in four shifts ago!”

“We were worried,” another, much larger Galra—who had a _tail_ —added. Lotor’s ears perked, and while he itched to try catching this man’s tail as it swept across the floor, he remind in place.

“I’m fine,” Kolivan said, shaking his head. “I just got… sidetracked…”

Lotor peeked out from behind him, looking up at the people surrounding them with wide eyes. No sooner had he done that, did several of the welcoming party turned to stare at him with widened eyes. A couple let out soft gasps of surprise. Lotor’s grip on Kolivan’s robe tightened and he didn’t fully emerge, although he did find it in him to not duck back into hiding.

“Lotor, won’t you say hello?” Kolivan prompted, reaching down to lightly smooth his hand over the top of Lotor’s head.

“Hi…” Lotor mumbled. Then, he lost his nerve and shied away behind Kolivan again.

—

The first couple of days at the base, Lotor followed Kolivan around, keeping a firm hold on either Kolivan’s robe or hand. Initially, Kolivan had wanted to give him over to one of the medical officers who had come to check on Lotor in his quarters. Just for the day while he was doing his rounds. However, when Lotor had thrown a fit at the mere suggestion—he didn’t _like_ the medical officer, he didn’t feel _safe_ with the medical officer—Kolivan had decided to just take him everywhere. Sometimes, Kolivan even let Lotor ride around on his back, allowing him to see things from higher up. Mostly, Kolivan did rounds. Or ‘Blade stuff’, as he had called it. But he had said that Lotor could help, since Lotor actively refused to be around anyone else.

“Is Blade stuff important?” Lotor asked. Today, he was sitting on Kolivan’s shoulders, holding onto his ears.

“Oh, yes,” Kolivan said, nodding curtly.

“ _How_ important?”

“Extremely.”

They passed by a pair of Blades who stopped to salute Kolivan, bringing fists to their chests. However, they seemed to be having a hard time keeping straight faces, for some reason. It was a reaction that Lotor had seen other Blades have as well—they weren’t very good at hiding it, either.

“What’s so funny?” Lotor asked, pouting at them. He felt Kolivan’s ears twitched in amusement, although he said nothing in response to the officers’ snickering. “Don’t you have Blade stuff you’re supposed to be doing?” His question only seemed to amuse the officers more.

“Oh, yes, little one…” one said, her ears twitching in amusement. “We have lots of Blade stuff to do. Keep Kolivan on his toes for us.”

Lotor was silent as the officers turned and left without much more than a goodbye. He didn’t know why they found him so funny—hadn’t Kolivan said that everyone around here liked cubs? The soldiers back in the Empire never seemed to be amused by him… as Kolivan continued down the hallway, Lotor found himself thinking about the other cub that Kolivan had mentioned a couple of times before. Lotor still hadn’t met them, even though he had asked a couple of times. However, Kolivan had merely told him that they’d have to arrange it with the cub’s parents.

As they entered the elevator, Lotor was dragged out of his thoughts. Looking around, he pouted. He had thought he had memorized most of Kolivan’s daily route by now, but today they were going somewhere else. Kolivan never used this elevator. Lotor remained quiet until the elevator opened, revealing a sub-deck that he had never seen before.

But it smelled _funny_. Lotor stuck out his tongue in distaste and covered his nose, letting out a soft _yeck_ under his breath.

“Kol… where are we?” he asked as the elevator doors closed behind them and Kolivan headed further down the hall.

“This is the medical bay, kitling,” Kolivan explained. They passed by a couple of examination rooms, although almost all of them were empty.

“Is the other cub here?” Lotor asked, ears perking.

Kolivan chuckled softly. “No, you won’t be meeting Keith today, I’m afraid,” he said. “We’re meeting with someone else… I think you’ll like him. He’s very nice.”

Lotor didn’t even try to hide his disappointment as his ears drooped and he pouted irritably. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t been allowed to meet the other cub yet—surely by now, they would have been able to plan something. Perhaps the other cub was always busy… did the Blade let cubs perform duties of their own? He was about to voice his thoughts, but then he noticed another Galra in a nearby room. They were small, with larger ears. Beside them, though, stood a much larger, four-armed Galra, hovering at their side and peering over their shoulder.

The only people Lotor had seen that had four arms were Unilu… but only in pictures.

All thoughts of the other cub were forgotten as Lotor hastily nudged Kolivan. Once he had Kolivan’s attention, he pointed to the four-armed Galra. “Why does he have four arms?”

“That’s Roc,” Kolivan said, turning his head to follow Lotor’s gaze. “He’s half-unilu… we have many hybrids here.”

Lotor didn’t remember seeing many— _any_?—hybrids in the Empire. Now looking at Roc, Lotor could pick out some of the obviously Galra traits, such as his ears, the yellow of his eyes, the sizable claws on his hands, even though he also had several Unilu traits as well. Lotor swallowed thickly, remembering how he had heard heard whispers of the world _halfbreed_ around him. He had never had the nerve to ask what it meant, fearing a scolding, but now he thought that perhaps they meant the same thing…

They continued walking, traveling deeper and deeper into the medical bay, until they came to a closed office. While there were still examination rooms around, they appeared to have blackened glass instead of clear windows. Faintly, he could hear soft beeps coming from nearby but couldn’t detect their origins—perhaps they were coming from the rooms?

Kolivan knocked on the door, and a couple of ticks passed before it opened to reveal a pale purple Galra who had white markings on his face that matched his fluffy crest.

“This is Ulaz,” Kolivan said gently as he set Lotor down on the floor of the examination room. Lotor leaned his head back in order to look Ulaz in the eye—why were adults so _tall_? Ulaz seemed to be about the same height as Kolivan. Lotor’s ears pinned back as he took a hasty step away, bumping into Kolivan’s legs. However, Lotor didn’t totally shy away and duck behind Kolivan as he might’ve done a couple of quintants prior, when Kolivan carefully set his hands on top of Lotor’s shoulders.

Ulaz didn’t move any closer than he had to. Instead, he knelt down, so that he was eye-level with Lotor. “Hello, little one…” he said patiently, tilting his head to the side. “What is your name?”

“Lotor…” he said softly. He tried not to avert his gaze, taking a deep breath.

“Oh, like the flower?” Ulaz asked.

Lotor frowned, ears perking in interest. “… flower?”

“It’s said that lotor flowers used to be grown on Daibazaal, a long time ago,” Ulaz explained. He hesitated for a moment, brows drawing together, but if he was going to finish his thought, he decided against it. “I hear they were pure white, though.”

“Like my headfur?” Lotor asked, tilting his head.

Ulaz’s ears twitched in amusement as he exchanged a glance with Kolivan. “Yes,” he said, before slowly holding out his hand in a motion that Lotor recognized as one of greeting. “It’s nice to meet you, Lotor…”

Lotor glanced behind him at Kolivan, and Kolivan offered a small, encouraging smile and a nod. Carefully, Lotor reached out, trying to grip Ulaz’s forearm as he had been taught to do, even though his hand was much smaller than Ulaz’s.

Then, Ulaz rose back to his feet, and stepped away, heading back over to the examination table. “Now, I am going to be your physician. Is that alright?”

Lotor frowned as he followed Ulaz, with Kolivan trailing a couple of paces behind. “Is it going to hurt?” Lotor asked, wringing his hands together nervously.

Ulaz shook his head. “No,” he assured Lotor. “I’m just checking to make sure you’re healthy. That’s all. Now, do you want me to lift you onto the table, or should Kolivan do it?”

Lotor thought Ulaz was nice enough—so far—but he looked at Kolivan instead. Carefully, Kolivan lifted Lotor up onto the cold metal examination table.

“Now, Lotor, how old are you?” Ulaz asked, picking up a light and turning it on. “Look here please,” he added after a tick, holding up another finger as he shined the light into Lotor’s eyes.

Lotor blinked against the harshness of it, but didn’t complain, and followed all the prompts that Ulaz was giving him. “Four…” he mumbled.

Ulaz’s ears perked in interest. “Really?” he asked, setting the light to the side and making a quick note on the datapad in front of him. “I have a son a little bit younger than you…”

At the mention of another cub, Lotor frowned, ears pinning back against the sides of his head. Was this the cub that Kolivan had mentioned several times? Lotor wanted to ask, half-excited half-afraid at the prospect of meeting the other cub. “You do?” he finally asked.

“Yes, his name is Keith,” Ulaz said, gently reaching out to check Lotor’s throat. At the mention of Keith, Lotor’s ears perked—he hadn’t realized that Ulaz’s cub and the one that Kolivan had mentioned were the same. Once Ulaz was done, he looked at Kolivan. “We were discussing scheduling a playdate? I think it would be good for both of them.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Kolivan agreed.

“Is Keith nice?” Lotor asked.

Ulaz chuckled softly, reaching over to pick up a stethoscope. “Yes, very… he’s with his father right now.” Then, his voice dropped into a conspirator's tone. “I suspect they’re sneaking fruit from the kitchens.”

Lotor’s ears twitched in amusement as he tried to stifle his giggles behind his hands, and a soft purr built in the back of his throat. He quieted, however, as Ulaz continued the examination—for the rest of it, Lotor sat still and did everything that Ulaz asked of him, and answered what questions he could. When he didn’t know the answer—like when Ulaz asked him if he had any allergies—he would apologize softly, only to be assured that it was alright. It made him feel better, knowing that nobody was going to get mad at him for not remembering something that seemed to be relatively important. He had heard Ulaz making a recommendation to Kolivan to keep a close watch on his diet just in case he _did_ end up having an allergic reaction to something on base.

When the exam was over, Ulaz gave him some dried fruit as a treat, and told him that he had to borrow Kolivan for a moment to discuss something with him. Lotor tried not to be bothered by the whispering, nibbling on the fruit as he kicked his legs back and forth and waited to leave. Judging by the set of his ears, whatever Ulaz was saying must have been important.

“Did I do bad on the exam?” Lotor asked Kolivan as they left, reaching up to hold Kolivan’s hand.

Kolivan frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“I just… heard you and Ulaz talking,” Lotor said softly.

In an instant, Kolivan’s gaze softened. “It was nothing bad at all… Ulaz was just confirming what I had already suspected,” he said gently as he could. “You’re a hybrid—”

“A halfbreed?” Lotor said, ears pinning back.

“Where did you learn _that_ word?” Kolivan asked, brow furrowing—although based on the set of his ears, he was more shocked and concerned than angry.

Lotor’s gaze fell to the floor as he began wringing his hands together nervously. “Soldiers…”

Kolivan let out a soft hum, ears twitching beside his head. “There is nothing wrong with having mixed ancestry.” Then, he stopped walking suddenly, ears perking. After Lotor looked up, he motioned to the room they had passed earlier, where the tall, four-armed Galra still stood, organizing a cabinet. “Do you remember that I told you Roc is a hybrid?” he asked.

“Mmhmm,” Lotor mumbled, hugging his arms around himself.

“He came from the Empire, just like you,” Kolivan said.

Lotor’s ears perked. “When he was a cub?”

Kolivan chuckled softly. “No, he was grown, but quite a few of those who are Blade-born are hybrids. Antok is one—you’ve seen him, right?”

Lotor nodded mutely. “The big Blade with the tail…” he mumbled, frowning in confusion. He had seen Antok several times, but had been too scared to leave his hiding place behind Kolivan—but he had noticed how Antok had a tail, only three fingers, and three eyes to match. He didn’t know what Antok’s non-Galran parent might’ve been, but he was curious… “Does Ulaz know what I am?”

Kolivan hesitated, ears shifting back. “He isn’t sure, so he has to check the databases,” he said. “And we might never know, but it’ll be alright. We’re not going to abandon you, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. We just want to be sure that we’re giving you the best care we can.”

—

Lotor had heard people calling him Kolivan’s shadow since he rarely ever left Kolivan’s side unless he had to. Since the trip to the medical bay, very little had changed about their daily routine. Lotor would follow Kolivan around the base while Kolivan performed his duties all day, and that would be it. But today was different. Today, they had come to the observation deck, rather than following their more standard route. Lotor had been there once before, when Kolivan had taken him to show him the stars when he was having trouble sleeping one evening. Today, another, smaller cub was there, along with a man who Lotor assumed was the cub’s father—they had the same eye shape, tilted their heads in a similar manner. That was where the similarities ended, as the other cub was decidedly not purple anywhere except in his headfur, which was verging on black.

The other cub noticed him, but didn’t immediately approach like Lotor had been expecting him to. So, instead of approaching, Lotor lingered behind Kolivan, holding onto the hem of Kolivan’s robes.

“Is that him?” Lotor asked.

Kolivan hummed softly. “Do you want to say hello?” he asked. “He doesn’t bite…”

Keith stuck close to his father’s side, lightly gripping at the sleeve of the man’s oversized sweater. Keith’s father’s ears twitched in amusement as he dipped his head, whispering something to the cub that Lotor didn’t catch. However, Keith still seemed a little hesitant to move, although he didn’t look particularly frightened. Keith’s father gave him a gentle nudge and an encouraging smile. Only then did Keith approach.

“Hi, ‘Mander Van,” Keith said politely.

“Hello, Keith,” Kolivan said. “Lotor, this is Keith… and that is his father, Thace.” From the other side of the room, Thace offered a smile and slowly blinked, ears at ease.

“You’re pretty,” Keith said suddenly—and on the other side of the room, Thace let out a poorly concealed snort.

Lotor’s ears perked in surprise. “… thank you,” he managed. He wasn’t exactly sure what else he was so supposed to say. Growing up, he hadn’t had any interaction with other cubs, so he didn’t know if he was supposed to say more than that. Would it help if he complimented Keith as well? Cause he liked Keith’s headfur. It was fluffy and looked soft to the touch. Even though he opened his mouth, however, Keith beat him to it and continued speaking.

“I like your braid,” Keith continued, smiling brightly as his fluffy ears perked. “You and ‘Mander Van match!”

At the other cub’s comment, Lotor returned the smile. “I braided his headfur this morning,” he said proudly, finally emerging from behind Kolivan, although he lingered at Kolivan’s side, still clutching at the hem of his robe. Even though Keith was smaller than him, and didn’t look nearly as scary as any of the other Blades, Lotor still felt nervous. But Keith definitely seemed nice. Taking a deep breath, Lotor held out his arm like Ulaz had done a couple of days previously. Keith positively beamed, moving forward to grip his forearm. Relief swept over Lotor at Keith’s acceptance. After a tick, relief was replaced by excitement—had he finally made friends with another cub?

“Come on—” Keith said excitedly, dragging Lotor towards the windows. “Dad says the flare is gonna be opening in a couple of doboshes! It’s really pretty, you have to see!”

Lotor followed silently, glancing behind him to make sure that Kolivan was following too—only when he saw that Kolivan was only a couple of paces behind did he follow Keith without digging his heels in. He was still nervous, even though Keith seemed nice. He was rather quiet while Keith babbled on about one of the constellations, unsure if he should speak or not. What if he accidentally said something wrong? What if Keith changed his mind about being friends over it?

“Dad says that that one is supposed to be a sylvacan—” Keith was saying.

“What’s that?” Lotor asked, tilting his head to the side.

Keith frowned a little bit, and Lotor’s heart sank as he waited for Keith to tell him it was weird he didn’t know something like that. However, Keith turned his gaze over to Thace instead. Thace and Kolivan were sitting nearby, talking amongst themselves while keeping an eye on Lotor and Keith.

“Dad,” Keith said, and immediately Thace’s ears perked and he glanced over, tilting his head. “What’s a sylvacan?”

“They’re forest spirits, kitling,” Thace said. “Said to protect travelers and wanderers from harm.”

“Papa says they make pretty flowers,” Keith added, beaming at Lotor. “I’ll show you my storybooks too!”

Lotor nodded slowly, relief flooding into his chest. He would like that. Keith didn’t linger on that topic either, turning back to the windows so that he could ask Lotor if there was anything that he spotted that he knew—the other cub seemed particularly excited because Lotor was from another part of the galaxy. However, Lotor didn’t know any constellations, only scientific names. When he explained that, though, Keith seemed extremely interested in it anyway, beaming as he asked for Lotor to teach him too. Lotor found his ears relaxing, and a smile breaking out on his features as they did so.

When Thace finally said it was Keith’s nap time, Lotor didn’t really want him to go. However, Thace assured him that he and Keith could play later, since they had ended up getting along so well. Before Keith left, though, he quickly dragged Lotor into a hug.

“Because Papa says hugs make saying bye easier,” Keith had explained.

Lotor wasn’t accustomed to hugs—he had received them so rarely. However, he found, as he wrapped his arms around Keith to return the hug, it did make the temporary goodbye a little easier.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [revasnaslan](http://revasnaslan.tumblr.com/)  
> beta'd by: [akumeoi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Akumeoi/pseuds/Akumeoi)


End file.
